diff --git a/skins/Modern.php b/skins/Modern.php
index 74f9b304f06..ebd574f435f 100644
--- a/skins/Modern.php
+++ b/skins/Modern.php
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ class ModernTemplate extends MonoBookTemplate {
 ?>
 
 	<!-- heading -->
-	<div id="mw_header"><h1 id="firstHeading"><?php $this->html('title') ?></h1></div>
+	<div id="mw_header"><h1 id="firstHeading"><span dir="auto"><?php $this->html('title') ?></span></h1></div>
 
 	<div id="mw_main">
 	<div id="mw_contentwrapper">
diff --git a/skins/MonoBook.php b/skins/MonoBook.php
index 00507e76aa4..b799fbcdfde 100644
--- a/skins/MonoBook.php
+++ b/skins/MonoBook.php
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ class MonoBookTemplate extends BaseTemplate {
 	<a id="top"></a>
 	<?php if($this->data['sitenotice']) { ?><div id="siteNotice"><?php $this->html('sitenotice') ?></div><?php } ?>
 
-	<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading"><?php $this->html('title') ?></h1>
+	<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading"><span dir="auto"><?php $this->html('title') ?></span></h1>
 	<div id="bodyContent" class="mw-body">
 		<div id="siteSub"><?php $this->msg('tagline') ?></div>
 		<div id="contentSub"<?php $this->html('userlangattributes') ?>><?php $this->html('subtitle') ?></div>
diff --git a/skins/Vector.php b/skins/Vector.php
index f1242b01ad5..1779566e998 100644
--- a/skins/Vector.php
+++ b/skins/Vector.php
@@ -134,7 +134,9 @@ class VectorTemplate extends BaseTemplate {
 			<!-- /sitenotice -->
 			<?php endif; ?>
 			<!-- firstHeading -->
-			<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" dir="auto"><?php $this->html( 'title' ) ?></h1>
+			<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading">
+				<span dir="auto"><?php $this->html( 'title' ) ?></span>
+			</h1>
 			<!-- /firstHeading -->
 			<!-- bodyContent -->
 			<div id="bodyContent">